An Unconventional Wedding Day: Our Love Story (Part II)
Our Love Story
After making sure that the jumpsuit and the shoes fit, I decided to email my tribe about our upcoming wedding. I unpacked my feelings about the wedding and asked them to join me for a champagne toast. Thirty of my closest girlfriends hopped on a Zoom call and shared heartwarming stories about my love with Segun. They even put together a video of well wishes to commemorate this bittersweet time.
My friend, Kristin, started the slew of sweet stories.
It was 2016, and we were all at Martha’s Vineyard for the annual Black Law Students Association (BLSA) trip. Kristin was my roommate on the trip. At that point, Segun and I had gone on one date to Chipotle, and he had helped me put up a few paintings in my new apartment. Segun and I spent most of the trip together, thanks to Kristin. She was the president of BLSA at the time and arranged to have us in the same group. We were placed into groups to allow bonding between different classes and build an inclusive community. So, Segun and I bonded.
In the evening, everyone went to the dance party. We were no longer required to stay in our groups, and we could mingle freely. Excited and nervous, I arrived with Kristin. I worked the room, chatting with new and old friends. As a 3L (third-year law student), I thought it was important that I let the 1Ls know that I was there to support them. I was a legal writing advisor at the time, so I had unique insight about the 1L curriculum and experience. I also love mentorship and meeting new people.
Once I was done with that, it was time to dance. I looked for Segun. Well, the whole night I was looking for him, but the room was dark. I danced around in a group with friends. No dancing with another man; I wanted to show Segun I was here for him. I noticed him in the corner with his crew. He was not dancing with any other woman. “He’s a good man. Probably loyal,” I thought. We finally found each other and danced for the rest of the night. Even though I sat next to Kristin on the bus on the way to the party, I sat with Segun on the way back.
We chatted and did things that infatuated 20-somethings do: stare into each other’s eyes, smile, laugh, and compliment each other. I think I also talked a lot about myself. Champagne makes me a bit of a show-off. Fortunately, Segun was into it. We hung out at an afterparty with “Sure Thing” by Miguel playing in the background. It became our song. Segun walked me to the door and gave me a kiss goodnight. Kristin said I woke her up and she asked me about my night. I said, “We fell in love.”
Alyssa, my friend from college, added that she loves how we enjoy the same hobbies and like the same activities. Segun and I cracked up laughing because that’s pretty far from the truth. We went with Alyssa to an Escape Room, which was a lot of fun, but it was not my first choice. It’s Segun’s thing. He loves solving puzzles and riddles. I’m more of a sit-back-and-relax-and-not-think kind of girl when it comes to free time. We try not to make each other do things that we wouldn’t do on our own. We know we’ll always feel an intimate connection through conversation and a good movie. I will admit that it might take us an hour to agree on the movie, but once we do, we’re good.
Lizzi, my best friend from law school, chimed in and told a story about how Segun and I have no stories. At first I was confused, but she said this was a good thing. She reminded me that we would always trade stories about relationship and situationship woes. Lizzi said, “You started dating Segun and the stories just stopped. No more complaints. You were just happy.”
After the speeches, I warned my friends that this is the first of many celebrations. We planned on having a family wedding and big reception with a bridal shower and bachelor and bachelorette parties sprinkled in between. You can’t celebrate love too much. My aunts shared this sentiment. Little did I know, they were at my parents’ house decorating the place with lots of purple, setting the table with Mr. and Mrs. champagne glasses, and preparing my favorite cake, red velvet. They did everything my mom would do.